Yugoslavia

In 1954 Tito took the first step in forming a group of neutral or non-aligned nations. His first trip to India was followed by another in 1955, and the Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a return visit in 1956. In 1956 Nehru and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt visited Tito at his Brioni resort. In 1961 Tito arranged a conference of non-aligned states in Belgrade, with 21 African and Asian states and Cuba in attendance. Yugoslavia, India, and Egypt were the leading nations of the non-aligned group in its early years.

In the United Nations, Yugoslavia generally voted with the communist states but, as noted above, deserted them on the Korean issue and voted for the enlargement of the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, which the USSR opposed. Yugoslavia also condemned the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact armies in 1968.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were marked by improved Yugoslav relations with other countries, regardless of their political orientation. In 1971 Tito and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev met in Belgrade and signed a declaration reaffirming Yugoslavia's political independence but calling for strengthening of ties between the two nations. That policy was reflected by subsequent friendly Soviet-Yugoslav visits; at the same time, Tito cultivated good relations with the European Common Market, the United States, and China. At the 1979 meeting of the non-aligned nations in Havana, Tito led the moderates in opposing the pro-Soviet stance of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Domestically Tito's final years were much less successful. The economy suffered from inflation, unemployment, strikes, and, usually, a huge foreign trade deficit, despite devaluation of the dinar and commercial agreements with both East and West. Tension between Croats and Serbs, marked by riots, hijacking, and assassinations, provoked severe repression. Thousands of Croats and others accused of subversive nationalism, liberalism, or pro-Soviet leanings were purged from the party, fired, or imprisoned.

Tito died on May 4, 1980, after a long illness. With his death, one-person rule came to an end in Yugoslavia. In keeping with the constitution of 1974, the country instituted a system of collective leadership, with top government and party offices rotated annually. A series of austerity plans made little headway in reviving the economy, which staggered under the weight of foreign debt that exceeded US$15 billion; with inflation and unemployment rising, the standard of living declined steadily throughout the 1980s.

The weakness of the economy and of government leadership stimulated the growth of ethnic conflict, as separatist movements in the individual republics and provinces threatened the viability of the nation. In the 1980s, tensions ran high in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, which had become autonomous in 1968 after rioting to protest against Serbian control. Seeking more independence and calling for a separate republic, the majority population of ethnic Albanians clashed with Serbians and Montenegrins throughout the decade; efforts by the Serbian government to impose its authority over Kosovo contributed to strained relations between Yugoslavia and Albania. Towards the end of the 1980s, Serbia reasserted its control over Kosovo and the autonomous province of Vojvodina, ending their autonomy.

In January 1990 the League of Communists of Yugoslavia agreed to surrender its monopoly on political power. Nationalist and conservative groups received strong support in elections in the spring of 1990, Yugoslavia's first free multi-party balloting since World War II. In December 1990, Serbs elected communist leader and outspoken nationalist Slobodan Milošević as their president. Milošević was to play a large role in the wars which ensued in the Balkans. He began by placing Kosovo under martial rule in 1990 and severely restricting the formerly autonomous province's privileges and rights; Vojvodina was deprived of its autonomy at the same time. In May 1991 a constitutional crisis arose when Serbia and its allies blocked the installation of a Croat to head Yugoslavia's collective presidency. After the parliaments of Croatia and Slovenia passed declarations of independence on June 25, the federal government ordered the Serb-dominated army to suppress the secessionists. A ten-day war was fought in Slovenia, but ended with a Serb defeat. The war in Croatia, which pitted federal troops and spontaneously formed Serb militias against Croatian forces, lasted seven months, ending in January 1992 with a ceasefire; Croatia lost control of more than one-third of its territory, and famous ancient cities such as Dubrovnik were largely destroyed. These secessions and the declaration of independence by the Yugoslav republic of Macedonia in September 1991 marked the end of the de facto existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The similar declaration by Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1992, and the ensuing fighting, marked the outbreak of the Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian War. On April 27, 1992, Serbia and Montenegro, the remaining republics, agreed to unite and announced the formation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which they declared to be the legal successor of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This move tacitly acknowledged the independence of the four breakaway republics which were all recognized by the international community.

The status of the self-proclaimed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was less clear. On September 22, almost four months after imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted by 127 to 6 (with 26 abstentions) that their federation could not automatically assume the seat of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and excluded it from the General Assembly. It was, however, given the option of reapplying for membership in it own right, but a move in October by then federal Prime Minister Milan Panić to follow up on this option led to a political crisis in the federation and to his ultimate political downfall. The UN termed the federation the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) but it was also variously described as the federation of Serbia and Montenegro and the Federal Republic of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2003 it became recognized by the UN as Serbia and Montenegro; the vestiges of the former Yugoslavia being voted out of existence.

For details of the history of the region since 1992, see entries for the individual republics Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of; Montenegro; Serbia; Serbia and Montenegro; and Slovenia.